Christmas Tidings
by emeraldflash
Summary: It's time for the Weasleys' annual Christmas Eve party to begin, and the Potters have yet to show. What could possibly be keeping the newly married couple?


For this Christmas season, I really wanted to put something out here, so without a much-needed introduction, here it is. I'm sorry if it seems rushed; I dumbly made the mistake of waiting last minute, but that's not stopping me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. If I did, it would have ended completely differently.

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It was Christmas Eve afternoon, and Harry Potter was currently pacing a hole in the carpet in the foyer of Potter Manor. His mind was running rampant without pause as he made turn after turn. The 23-year old Man-Who-Conquered muttered rushed strings of profanities under his breath as he prayed to Merlin, Circe, Hecate, and any others he managed to remember from History of Magic. Why was he doing so, you ask? If someone were to ask, he would have gone on a five-minute rant about his wife, Pansy Potter.

Five minutes ago, the Weasleys had begun their Christmas Eve party, which Harry had yet to miss, and he was beginning to worry. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why she had to be "fashionably late" to nearly everything. He loved his wife dearly, but sometimes she just set him on edge with her pureblood habits. He looked up the stairs to their room and kept pacing, muttering under his breath about his tardy wife. More time passed without any sign of her coming to the stairs he was currently patrolling.

Harry looked at his watch for the 20th time that afternoon and saw that another five minutes had passed. With a huff, the ebony-haired young man threw his hands down and ran up the stairs two at a time. When he reached their bedroom door, he threw it open with an annoyed grunt.

"Pansy," he yelled out, only to see his wife of five months huddled under the navy satin sheets of their four-poster bed. "Pansy, are you okay?"

"Harry," she said in between coughs. "I'm so sorry. I'm not feeling too well right now."

Harry rushed to the side of the bed and kneeled in front of his raven-haired wife. He noticed a stray hair and gently pushed it behind her ear. She leaned her head into his palm with a smile and a light purr of contentment. Harry leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Pansy said, pouting her lips. "I won't be able to make it. You can go to the party without me."

If it had been anyone else, they would have been fooled by Pansy's excellent acting abilities. But this was Harry Potter, and he had grown to be used to her wiles after their five years together.

"Pansy," he said as he gave her a playful glare. "Do you really think you can still trick me?"

"Harry, what are you talking about?" Pansy said, drawing the covers up to her chin.

Harry stood up and crossed his arms. "Pansy, what's the matter? Do you not want to go to the party?"

Pansy wiggled in the covers under his stare and guiltily looked away. Harry bent down and kissed her forehead again.

"Pansy, tell me what's wrong. I know you don't really get along with them but-"

Pansy cut him off with a laugh. "I think not getting along with them is putting it mildly, Harry. Most of them I can stand, but Ronald, Ginerva, and their mother hate me. They nearly picketed our wedding. But that's not what this is about."

After taking a big breath, Pansy pouted her lips and fluttered her eyelashes for added effect. "I know you think of them like family, but this is our first Christmas together as a married couple. I wanted to make it special for us.

"By lying in bed?" Harry asked, confused and still a little annoyed.

"Well, that's how I imagined us starting the evening," Pansy said, lowering her voice to a sultry whisper. "Then a nice, home-cooked meal, and after that, you can have me however you want. How does that sound?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh at his wife as he leaned down and kissed his beautiful wife. Her full lips teased his, and her teeth gently pulled his lips. He let out a moan from the back of his throat, and so did she.

"That sounds pretty nice, actually," Harry said breathlessly as he pulled away from Pansy's lips. "But you're persuasion skills leave a lot to be desired."

"Oh really," Pansy replied. "What if I let you unwrap a Christmas present early?"

"Well, that depends," Harry said. "Which present do you have in mind?"

"Oh, I think you know, handsome," Pansy said with a coquettish wink and a smile as she took off the sheets.

Harry marveled wide-eyed at what his stunning wife was wearing, or rather what she wasn't wearing. She was shaking with uncontrolled laughter at his face wearing two alluring red bows in very…strategic locations.

The Man-Who-Conquered couldn't get a Patronus out fast enough before joining his wife in bed and unwrapping his present.

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If you think it's good, please review; They keep me warm on this surprisingly and annoyingly warm Christmas. If you think it's bad, please tell me what I can do to fix my writing.


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